Page 114 of Still Love You

CHAPTER TWENTY-THREE

Silas

"Willow," I call out as I go in her house. "Are you in your room?  I have a surprise for you."

I'm in a really good mood today. Actually, I've been in a good mood ever since Willow got back from college, and my mood got even better when we got back together.

My surprise is that her favorite local band is playing tonight and I got tickets on my way over here.

"Willow?" I go to her room but she's not there. I know she's home. I told her I'd come here right after class. We have two hours before her parents get back from the farmers' market. While I was in class, Willow kept texting me with what she'd like me to do to her in those two hours. I swear she only did it to embarrass me. I had a hard-on practically the whole damn class. I didn't even look at the last few texts she left me. If I had, I wouldn't have been able to walk out at the end of class.

"Willow, where are you?" I check the kitchen and then the living room. "I got your texts." I smile. "I didn't know you had such a dirty mind."

It's true. Willow used to be kind of shy when it came to sex, which made sense because she was younger then and inexperienced. She was only 16 and a virgin when we first did it. But even after we'd been doing it for months, she never took the lead, never wanted to try anything new, never talked dirty. And I was okay with that. I never pushed her to do anything she wasn't comfortable doing and I never would.

But now, being with her again, it's totally different. She isn't afraid to take charge or tell me what she wants, which is damn sexy, to the point that just thinking about those texts has got me hard again.

"Come on, Willow. No more teasing." I walk down the hall. "Where are you?"

I've searched every room but the office. The door is closed so I open it and see her sitting on the floor. The file cabinet is open and papers are scattered all around her. Her eyes are red and puffy and she's staring straight ahead, a dazed look on her face.

"Willow?" I slowly approach her, and as I do, I notice a piece of paper on the floor next to her leg. It's a bill stamped with the word 'overdue' in bright red ink.

She knows. Shit.

"Willow," I say quietly, kneeling down in front of her.

"You knew," she whispers, her eyes looking past me.

"Yes, but I was going to—"

"You knew and you didn't tell me." Her voice is shaky and a tear slips down her already wet cheek.

"Just let me explain." I reach for her but she shoves me away.

"Get out!" she screams. "Get out of my house!" She starts kicking at me, pushing me back.

"Stop." I grab her legs, holding them down. "We need to talk about this."

"You had weeks to talk about this! And instead you lied to me!" She struggles to get her legs free and starts hitting me. "Get out!"

"I'm not leaving."

"I don't want to see you." She stops fighting me and looks down. "I need to be alone."

"What you need is a friend." I let go of her legs and sit cross-legged in front of her. "Willow, say something."

"You're not my friend." She hiccups the words as she breaks down into a full-out cry. "A friend would've told me what's going on. But instead, you hid it from me. Acted like everything was great." She takes a breath. "Is that why you wanted to get back together with me? Because you felt sorry for me?"

"No! You know that's not the reason."

"Then is it because you knew I wouldn't be going back to school in the fall? You knew I'd be staying here so you thought you'd—"

"Willow, stop making up shit." I grab her hand and hold onto it as she tries to pull away. "First of all, you're going back to school in the fall. That hasn't changed."

She picks up one of the bills and shoves it in my face. "Do you see this? It's a bill for $3,000! It's overdue and racking up late fees. And it's just one of I don't know how many. There's no money for college, Silas! My parents don't even have money for food." Her head drops and she starts crying again.

"You're still going to college." I rub her hand. "They haven't touched that account."

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